Data protection or order? Debate about garbage monitoring in Hameln!

In Garbsen, video surveillance was installed on Müllcontainers in order to counteract increasing pollution. This decision is contrasting to the rejection of a similar measure in the city of Hameln, such as "https://www.dewezet.de/leserbriefe/zum-thema-warum---videwachbewachung-datenschutz-irsinn-kyvoihm6ybaxnalohxuodqixum.html" target = "_ blank" rel = "noopener noreferrer"> dewezet.de . Sascha Urbansky from Bad Münder explains in a letter to the editor that he is surprised by the decision of the city of Hameln. In his opinion, data protection in Germany is now a higher priority than public order and law enforcement.

Urbansky criticizes the argumentation of the city of Hameln to reject video surveillance due to data protection, technical restrictions and long approval processes. He underlines that the protection of the general public is essential against garbage tense and that innocent citizens would generally have no objections to video surveillance. The letter to the editor indicates that the existing data protection regulations are more likely to act in the sense of regular brapers and suggests that a balanced relationship between data protection and public order should be found.

discussion about video surveillance in public space

The problem of illegal garbage deposits affects not only garbes, but also many other cities and municipalities that implement various measures to counteract this problem. As datenschutz-notzen.de Defect portals. Data protection discussions regarding video surveillance as part of combating illegal waste disposal have already been conducted in several cities.

An example of this is Rhineland-Palatinate, where the video surveillance of glass containers was rejected in 2023, since the rights of unsolved citizens were in danger. In August 2024, however, a pilot project in cooperation with the State Commissioner for Data Protection was initiated in August 2024 to develop a data protection -compliant measure to combat illegal garbage deposits. However, this challenge does not remain without strict legal regulations and proof of requirements.

The legal framework stipulates that municipalities must first demonstrate concrete violations and exploit milder measures before they can use video surveillance. In Garbsen, the monitoring of the garbage containers is carried out by urban employees in real time, while the garbage sinners are addressed via loudspeakers. These measures aim to reduce the frequent cases of illegal waste disposal, for example from refrigerators or tires.